1 In 16 Doctors Gets Hit By Claim

April 14, 1986|By Rosemary Goudreau and Alex Beasley of The Sentinel Staff

Eight doctors in Orange County faced four or more malpractice suits in the five-year period between 1980 and 1984, a review by The Orlando Sentinel found.

The numbers in and of themselves do not mean the doctors practiced bad medicine. Some suits name every doctor involved in a patient's care -- a tactic known as ''shotgunning'' -- because lawyers may not know which physician caused the injury. Sometimes suits are filed, then dropped.

Everyone familiar with Florida's malpractice crisis agrees that anyone can be sued, just as anyone can make a mistake.

However, state regulators say they would like to know more about those doctors who are sued repeatedly. Numerous suits may mean nothing, but they should raise a ''red flag,'' said Fred Roche, secretary of the Department of Professional Regulation.

The Sentinel's review showed that 315 of the county's 1,000 doctors were sued in the five-year period -- or about one in 16 doctors each year. There were 57 doctors with two or more suits.

Of the 256 cases that involved physicians, 151 doctors settled out of court, 90 were dropped from suits, 114 have cases pending and 17 of their cases went to a jury where they won 12 and lost five. Many of the suits involved more than one doctor. The Sentinel found an average of 2.2 doctors were named in each suit.

No matter the outcome, the suits illustrate how physicians fare in the local court system. Most doctors contacted agreed to talk about their cases. In almost every case, they said they had done nothing wrong. Many still are awaiting their day in court. It takes an average 2 1/2 years to settle a malpractice case in Orange County.

Not every doctor sued for malpractice is guilty, just as not everyone accused of a crime is guilty. Suits are only one gauge. With that in mind, here are seven of Orange County's most-sued doctors who have had settlements or judgments against them. An eighth doctor with four suits had two dropped and two others are still unresolved.

Three of the suits have been dropped, two have been settled out of court and three are pending. A jury ruled for Lieberman in one case.

A board-certified doctor practicing in Orlando since 1976, Lieberman denied wrongdoing in every case that had a defense on record. Through his attorney, he said four of the suits stemmed from actions of doctors working for him. He declined requests for an interview but issued the following statement about the Sentinel's findings:

''The simple fact that people are sued does not in and of itself infer that they are negligent or lacking in professional skills. In the absence of a critical analysis of the allegations and proof in an individual case, the mere number of claims filed against any person has no significance. In fact several of the claims against me have been proven groundless. I anticipate the remaining claims will also be proven to be groundless. I am unable to comment further due to the matters being in litigation.''

The jury sided with Lieberman in a suit alleging he delayed diagnosing breast cancer. Three other suits were dropped. Two accused Lieberman and doctors who worked for him of delaying lifesaving treatment to three infants, including a set of twins, and the third alleged that they prescribed inappropriate drugs to the mother of a fourth baby born with birth defects.

Lieberman's insurance companies settled two cases out of court. One accused him of failing to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy that ruptured a woman's Fallopian tube. The other suit alleged he didn't tell a couple that an amniocentesis was inconclusive and should be redone. The couple had a child born with Down's syndrome.

The other three cases are pending. One alleges that Lieberman and another doctor advised a pregnant woman to have an abortion after sonograms showed that her fetus was deformed. The aborted fetus was normal, the suit said.

Another accuses Lieberman of perforating the recto-vaginal wall during a hysterectomy and repairing it in such a way that the woman passed feces through her vagina. The case was declared a mistrial in January when the jury deadlocked.

The third suit alleges that with no nurse present, Lieberman forced a patient to have sexual intercourse on an office examining table. Lieberman denied the allegations but conceded a nurse was not present during the exam. In his defense, he said the patient came to see him three times after the alleged incident occurred. He said the woman had mental problems evidenced by a drug overdose.